Radio communication device, parent communication device, parent-child communication device and radio communication system

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a slave communication device which received control delegation from a master communication device and performs communication with an originating telephone apparatus through a host station based on a call originated from that originating telephone apparatus, and has a master communication device  1  having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by a host station  3  and one or more slave communication devices  2  receiving control delegation from the master communication device  1  to perform communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device  1 . The slave communication device  2  comprises storage means for storing the master ID and a slave ID recognizable by the master communication device  1 , wireless communication means for performing communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device  1  through the host station  3 , pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signal received by the pager signal reception means.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a wireless communication device, amaster communication device, a master/slave communication device, and awireless communication system, and more specifically, to a wirelesscommunication device, a master communication device, a master/slavecommunication device, and a wireless communication system in which,after control is delegated to one or more slave communication devicesfrom a master communication device, any of the slave communicationdevices is specified by originating from an unspecified originatingtelephone apparatus to perform communication between that slavecommunication device and the originating telephone apparatus through ahost station.

BACKGROUND ART

The development of fixed telephones, mobile communication telephones andthe like has been remarkable, and it is expected that, in the nearfuture, communication functions using fixed telephone lines or mobilecommunication telephone lines are added to a considerable number ofelectronic apparatuses (for example, television sets, various kinds ofcameras and the like). Here, when a case is assumed where thecommunication functions are added to various kinds of electronicapparatuses., if different telephone lines are set for respective onesof the electronic apparatuses, various problems arise such asunregulated creation of IDs such as telephone numbers managed by usersand host stations, and bloating of base rates of telephone lines borneby users. It is thus necessary to construct a system in which aplurality of electronic apparatuses can share a common telephone line.

Also, in IMT-2000 which is a next-generation mobile communicationsystem, it is expected that a function referred to as so-calledmulticall, that is, a function allowing a plurality of mobilecommunication devices to simultaneously perform communication over asingle mobile communication telephone line in a range of communicationspeeds provided for that telephone line is added. In this case, a systemwhich avoids the aforementioned problems such as the unregulatedcreation of IDs is also needed.

Specifically, in a mobile communication system, seeing that frequencybands allocated to mobile communication are finite, telephone numberresources allocated to individual mobile communication devices are alsofinite, and if unique IDs are allocated to respective electronicapparatuses, it is expected that the telephone number resources arereadily exhausted while unutilized telephone numbers are suddenlyincreased. Thus, in a next-generation mobile communication system, it isinevitable that telephone numbers are allocated with reluctance toindividual mobile communication devices, which may become a factor inincreasing a base rate for a single ID.

Conventionally, to use a telephone line common to a plurality ofelectronic apparatuses, in the case of a fixed telephone line, a linesuch as an ISDN line through which a plurality of communicationprocessing can be simultaneously processed is installed to construct alocal area network (LAN), and a personal computer, a facsimile apparatusand the like having communication functions are connected to the LAN,thereby avoiding the aforementioned problems, for example.

When a telephone line common to a plurality of electronic apparatuses isintended to be used and when each electronic apparatus does not changeits location, the construction of a LAN as mentioned above can deal withthe case. However, when that electronic apparatus is a portabletelephone, a digital camera, a video camera, or another mobilecommunication device having portability and premised on movement, orwhen it is installed in a position where the construction of a LAN isrelatively difficult even when its location is not changed, it isdifficult to deal with the case with a LAN.

In addition, in recent years, data transmission/reception through radiosignals among a plurality of electronic apparatuses with Bluetooth (seeNikkei Electronics Jan. 17, 2000, pp.37-44) or the like has beenproposed. In this case, however, there is also a problem of atransmission/reception range of radio waves with Bluetooth being limitedto within a short range. Furthermore, when a large amount of data istransmitted and received over a mobile communication telephone line, anelectronic apparatus such as a portable telephone performingcommunication with a host station through radio waves over the mobilecommunication telephone line also performs processing of transmittingdata on radio waves to another electronic apparatus through theBluetooth, so that a problem of power consumption may arise in thatportable telephone or the like.

To address such problems, the present applicant has already proposed“Control Delegation System for Telephone Line” (Patent Application2000-122791). The control delegation system uses a master communicationdevice having a master terminal ID such as a unique telephone number forutilizing a telephone line provided by a host station and one or moreslave communication devices for which slave terminal IDs created on thebasis of the master terminal ID and recognizable by the host station(host computer) are set and which use those slave terminal ID to utilizethe telephone line for the master communication device.

The control delegation system is a new system totally different from aconventional extension telephone in which a base unit and one or morehandsets are used and any one of them utilizes the same telephone line,in that the slave communication devices utilize the telephone line usingthe slave terminal IDs created on the basis of the master terminal ID,that the host computer which received the slave terminal ID performsauthentication of the correspondence relationship between that slaveterminal ID and the master terminal ID or the like, that the slavecommunication device can perform originating (originate a call) byitself using the telephone line for the master communication device evenwhen it becomes distant from the master communication device, that therespective terminals can simultaneously perform communication within arange of communication speeds previously allocated by the host computerof the master communication device (applicable to multicall), that it ispossible to specify contents of control delegated by the mastercommunication device to the slave communication device (for example, thecommunication speed to be used, dedicated to transmission, dedicated toreception, or the like), and the like.

According to the control delegation system, since communicationfunctions for using the telephone line based on the ID of the masterterminal are added to the plurality of slave communication devices and astate is established in which control for using the telephone line isdelegated to the plurality of slave communication devices by acommunication means of the master communication device, it is possibleto perform processing such as substitute execution of communication,which should be essentially performed by the master communicationdevice, by the slave communication device.

In the control delegation system, for an originating function(originating a call) of the communication functions of the slavecommunication device to which control has been delegated, each slavecommunication device uses a slave terminal ID created by, for example,adding a branch number to the telephone number of the mastercommunication device to establish communication within the range of thecommunication speeds of the master communication device, so that theplurality of slave communication devices can perform originatingrespectively while using the common telephone line to solve theaforementioned problems.

Specifically, a slave communication device which does not have a uniqueID (telephone number or the like) performs originating by using a slaveterminal ID (for example, “090-1234-5678-01”) created on the basis ofthe master terminal ID (for example, “090-1234-5678”) of the mastercommunication device to allow various communications to be performedthrough the host station. In other words, each slave communicationdevice for which control delegation has been completed and a slaveterminal ID has been set can directly perform various communicationsthrough the host station, thereby eliminating the need for theintervention of the master communication device and the need that itshould be within a short distance from the master communication deviceand the other slave communication devices. Thus, according to thecontrol delegation system, the problem of the positional relationshipamong the electronic apparatuses is solved, and further, the problem ofpower consumption in the master communication device is also solved.

On the other hand, for a termination function of the communicationfunctions of the slave communication device to which control has beendelegated, for example, the slave terminal IDs and the correspondencerelationship between those slave terminal IDs and the master terminal IDare previously registered in the host station and a telephone or thelike of an originating party specifies the ID of the slave communicationdevice at the time of origination of a call to allow establishment ofbi-directional communication between the originating party and the slavecommunication device on the terminating party through the host station.

Incidentally, when a mobile communication telephone line with radiosignals is used in the control delegation system, a problem as describedbelow is expected to arise when a larger number of slave communicationdevices have slave terminal IDs set therefor in connection with locationregistration performed on the host station side.

Specifically, there is a problem that, when a larger number of slavecommunication devices receive control delegation from the mastercommunication device and have slave terminal IDs set therefor, a burdenof processing for the location registration is excessive on the hoststation side if respective users carrying respective communicationdevices move to positions distant from one another, causing thepossibility of failing to deal with such a case.

Typically, in the mobile communication system, the configuration of thehost station is provided with a single central control station having ahost computer, and a plurality of base stations connected to the centralcontrol station and performing transmission and reception of radiosignals (radio waves) for communication. The respective base stationsmonitor the positions of respective portable telephones present withincertain areas, respectively, to transmit position information of therespective portable telephones to the central control station whichperforms registration (area registration) based on the positioninformation.

Then, a typical portable telephone (including a PHS, a PDA or the like)originates a weak radio wave (hereinafter referred to as “a radio signalfor location registrations”) including an ID of that portable telephone(telephone number information) receivable by a base station in an areawhere that portable telephone exists in order to perform communicationthrough any one of the respective base stations. Here, when anunspecified telephone (hereinafter referred to as “an originatingtelephone apparatus”) and a portable telephone make a call, the centralcontrol station performs control for connecting communication based onoriginating (origination of a call) from any telephone through a basestation in an area where that portable telephone exists.

Thus , if the control delegation system presented earlier by the presentapplicant is applied to such a system for a mobile communicationtelephone line, when a number of slave communication devices to whichcontrol has been delegated originate radio signals for locationregistration simultaneously by using the slave terminal IDs differentfrom one another based on the master terminal ID from areas differentfrom one another, a burden of processing is excessive on the centralcontrol station side which controls the respective base stations,causing the possibility of failing to deal with such a case.

Such a problem can be addressed by each user carrying each slavecommunication device voluntarily turning off the main power supply ofthe communication device to normally prevent originating of the radiosignal for location registration and turning on the main power supplyonly when it is required. However, a problem concerning termination thenoccurs that each slave communication device cannot receive a calloriginated by the said originating telephone apparatus.

In addition, in the already proposed control delegation system, sincethe host station side must register the correspondence relationshipbetween the master terminal ID and the slave terminal IDs to perform theprocessing of authentication for communication performed by the slavecommunication devices, the processing is not completed only by themaster communication device and the respective slave communicationdevices and the host station side needs to perform various processing.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a wirelesscommunication device as a slave communication device, a mastercommunication device, a master/slave communication device, and awireless communication system which allow a slave communication deviceto perform communication with an originating telephone apparatus througha host station based on a call originated from that originatingtelephone apparatus even when there are a number of slave communicationdevices which received control delegation from a master communicationdevice to have slave IDs set therefor and that slave communicationdevice moves to a position away from the master communication device orthe other slave communication devices.

A first configuration of a wireless communication device according tothe present invention is a wireless communication device receivingcontrol delegation from a master communication device having a uniquemaster ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by ahost station to perform communication using the wireless telephone linefor said master communication device, characterized by comprisingstorage means for storing the master ID and a slave ID recognizable bythe master communication device, wireless communication means forperforming communication using the wireless telephone line for themaster communication device through the host station, pager signalreception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system,and control means for controlling the wireless communication means basedon a predetermined pager signal received by the pager signal receptionmeans.

A second configuration of a wireless communication device according tothe present invention is characterized, in the first configuration, inthat the control means normally turns off the power of the wirelesscommunication means, and when the pager signal reception means receivesa pager signal, determines whether or not the pager signal includes anoriginating instruction that originating should be performed to anoriginating telephone number, and when it determines that it is notincluded, performs control to maintain the power of the wirelesscommunication means off.

A third configuration of a wireless communication device according tothe present invention is characterized, in the second configuration, inthat the control means performs control to turn on the power of thewireless communication means when it determines that the originatinginstruction that originating should be performed to the originatingtelephone number is included.

A fourth configuration of a wireless communication device according tothe present invention is characterized, in the third configuration, inthat the control means controls the wireless communication means toperform originating to an originating telephone apparatus of theoriginating telephone number using the master ID after the power of thewireless communication means is turned on.

A fifth configuration of a wireless communication device according tothe present invention is characterized, in any one of the first tofourth configurations, in that, when the pager signal reception meansreceives the pager signal Including the originating telephone number ofthe originating telephone apparatus, the control means performs controlto notify a user of the fact that a telephone call should be made to theoriginating telephone apparatus of the originating telephone number.

A sixth configuration of a wireless communication device according tothe present invention is characterized, in any one of the first to fifthconfigurations, by further comprising transmission/reception means forreceiving the slave ID created by the master communication device in thecontrol delegation and performing transmission and reception of varioussignals to and from the master communication device, and characterizedin that, when the transmission/reception means receives the slave ID,the control means controls the storage means to store the slave ID inthe storage means.

A seventh configuration of a wireless communication device according tothe present invention is characterized, in the sixth configuration, inthat the storage means has a pager ID stored therein for the page signalreceived by the pager signal reception means, and the control meanscontrols the storage means and the transmission/reception means to readand transmit the pager ID to the master communication device in thecontrol delegation.

A first configuration of a master communication device according to thepresent invention is a master communication device having a uniquemaster ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by ahost station, using n (n is an integer equal to or larger than one)wireless communication devices provided with any one of the said firstto seventh configurations as slave communication devices, and providingeach of the slave communication devices with a slave ID created on thebasis of the master ID to perform control delegation to each of theslave communication devices, characterized by comprising wirelesscommunication means for performing wireless communication through thehost station by transmitting the master ID to the host station, andcontrol means for controlling the wireless communication means, andcharacterized in that, when the wireless communication means receives,during communication with an originating telephone apparatus, a signalindicating an originating telephone number of the originating telephoneapparatus and a signal specifying any of the slave communication devicesto which control has been delegated originated from the originatingtelephone apparatus, the control means disconnects the communicationwith the telephone apparatus and controls the wireless communicationmeans such that the pager signal reception means of the slavecommunication device receives a pager signal including the originatingtelephone number and an originating instruction that originating shouldbe performed to the originating telephone number.

A second configuration of a master communication device according to thepresent invention is characterized, in the first configuration, byfurther comprising storage means for storing a pager ID of each of theslave communication devices to which control has been delegated, andcharacterized in that the control means reads the pager ID from thestorage means and controls the wireless communication means to performoriginating to the pager ID of the slave communication device such thatthe pager signal reception means of the slave communication devicereceives the pager signal including the originating telephone number andthe originating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number.

A third configuration of a master communication device according to thepresent invention is characterized, in the second configuration, byfurther comprising transmission/reception means for receiving the pagerID from each of the slave communication devices in the controldelegation and performing transmission and reception of various signalsto and from each of the slave communication devices, and characterizedin that the control means stores each of the pager IDs received fromeach of the slave communication devices in the storage means and createsslave IDs corresponding in number to the slave communication devices towhich control is to be delegated, and controls thetransmission/reception means to transmit individually each of the slaveIDs to each of the slave communication devices to which control is to bedelegated.

A first configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized by comprising a mastercommunication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using awireless communication line provided by a host station and one or moreslave communication devices receiving control delegation from the mastercommunication device to perform communication using the wirelesscommunication line for the master communication device, andcharacterized in that the master communication device comprises wirelesscommunication means for performing wireless communication through thehost station by transmitting the master ID to the host station, andcontrol means for controlling the wireless communication means, and eachof the slave communication devices comprises storage means for storingthe master ID and a slave ID recognizable by the master communicationdevice, wireless communication means for performing communication usingthe wireless telephone line for the master communication device throughthe host station, pager signal reception means for receiving a pagersignal of a radio paging system, and control means for controlling thewireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signalreceived by the pager signal reception means.

A second configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in the first configuration,in that the control means of the slave communication device normallyturns off the power of the wireless communication means, and when thepager signal reception means receives a pager signal, determines whetheror not the pager signal includes an originating instruction thatoriginating should be performed to an originating telephone number, andwhen it determines that it is not included, performs control to maintainthe power of the wireless communication means off.

A third configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in the second configuration,in that the control means of the slave communication device performscontrol to turn on the power of the wireless communication means when itdetermines that the originating instruction that originating should beperformed to the originating telephone number is included.

A fourth configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in the third configuration,in that the control means of the slave communication device controls thewireless communication means to perform originating to an originatingtelephone apparatus of the originating telephone number using the masterID after the power of the wireless communication means is turned on.

A fifth configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first tofourth configurations, in that, when the pager signal reception meansreceives the pager signal including the originating telephone number ofthe originating telephone apparatus, the control means of the slavecommunication device performs control to notify a user of the fact thata telephone call should be made to the originating telephone apparatusof the originating telephone number.

A sixth configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first tofifth configurations, in that each of the slave communication devicescomprises transmission/reception means for receiving the slave IDcreated by the master communication device in the control delegation andperforming transmission and reception of various signals to and from themaster communication device, and when the transmission/reception meansreceives the slave ID, the control means of each slave communicationdevice controls the storage means to store the slave ID in the storagemeans.

A seventh configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in the sixth configuration,in that the storage means of each of the slave communication devices hasa pager ID stored therein for the page signal received by the pagersignal reception means, and the control means of each slavecommunication device controls the storage means and thetransmission/reception means to read and transmit the pager ID to themaster communication device in the control delegation.

An eighth configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first toseventh configurations, in that the master communication devicecomprises storage means for storing a pager ID of each of the slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated, and thecontrol means of the master communication device reads the pager ID fromthe storage means and controls the wireless communication means toperform originating to the pager ID of the slave communication devicesuch that the pager signal reception means of the slave communicationdevice receives the pager signal including the originating telephonenumber and the originating instruction that originating should beperformed to the originating telephone number.

A ninth configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in the eighth configuration,in that the master communication device comprises transmission/receptionmeans for receiving the pager ID from each of the slave communicationdevices in the control delegation and performing transmission andreception of various signals to and from each of the slave communicationdevices, and the control means of the master communication device storeseach pager ID received from each of the slave communication devices inthe storage means and creates slave IDs corresponding in number to theslave communication devices to which control is to be delegated, andcontrols the transmission/reception means to transmit individually eachof the slave IDs to each of the slave communication devices to whichcontrol is to be delegated.

A tenth configuration of a master/slave communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in any one of the first toninth configurations, in that, when the wireless communication meansreceives, during communication with an originating telephone apparatus,a signal indicating an originating telephone number of the originatingtelephone apparatus and a signal specifying any of the slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated originatedfrom the originating telephone apparatus, the control means disconnectsthe communication with the telephone apparatus and controls the wirelesscommunication means such that the pager signal reception means of theslave communication device receives a pager signal including anoriginating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number.

An eleventh configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in any one of thefirst to tenth configurations, in that the pager signal reception meansof the slave communication device receives a pager signal including theoriginating telephone number of the originating telephone apparatus andan originating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number originated from the originating telephoneapparatus.

A first configuration of a wireless communication system according tothe present invention is characterized by comprising a mastercommunication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using awireless telephone line, one or more slave communication devicesreceiving control delegation from the master communication device toperform communication using the wireless telephone line for the mastercommunication device, and a host station for performing control ofcommunication using the wireless telephone line and transmission controlof a pager signal of a radio paging system, and characterized in thatthe master communication device comprises wireless communication meansfor performing wireless communication through the host station bytransmitting the master ID to the host station, and control means forcontrolling the wireless communication means, and each of the slavecommunication devices comprises storage means for storing the master IDand a slave ID recognizable by the master communication device, wirelesscommunication means for performing communication using the wirelesstelephone line for the master communication device through the hoststation, pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal ofthe radio paging system, and control means for controlling the wirelesscommunication means based on a predetermined pager signal received bythe pager signal reception means.

A second configuration of a wireless communication system according tothe present invention is characterized, in the first configuration, inthat the host station has a plurality of radio signaltransmission/reception means for performing transmission/reception of aradio signal using the wireless telephone line and receiving a radiosignal originated from the wireless communication means of the mastercommunication device or the wireless communication means of each slavecommunication device to perform location registration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an outline of a communication systemto which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the circuit configurations of amaster communication device and a slave communication device;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of host station;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the flow of processing for issuingrespective slave IDs to a plurality of slave communication devices todelegate control by the master communication device;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining processing of the slavecommunication device after the control delegation;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram for explaining operation performed by a user ofan originating telephone or the like; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining processing of the mastercommunication device after the control delegation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 master communication device

2 slave communication device (wireless communication device)

3 host station

30 central control station

31 cellular control station section

32 radio paging control station section

34, 35 cellular base station (radio signal transmission/reception means)

36 radio paging base station

100 originating telephone (originating telephone apparatus)

10 portable telephone body

11 control section

12 operation input section

13 transmission/reception section (wireless communication means)

15 display section

16 sound input section

17 sound output section

18 vibrator

19 memory

4 responder (transmission/reception means)

20 portable telephone body

21 control section

22 operation input section

23 transmission/reception section (wireless communication means)

24 pager signal reception section (pager signal reception means)

25 display section

26 sound input section

27 sound output section

28 vibrator

29 memory

5 interrogator (transmission/reception means)

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to the drawings.

General Outline

FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of a communication system to which thepresent invention is applied.

In the communication system of the present embodiment, when anunspecified originating telephone 100 performs originating (originates acall) to any slave communication device (for example, a slavecommunication device 2A) of a plurality of slave communication devices 2(2A, 2B, . . . 2 n) in a state where they have acquired slave IDs from amaster communication device 1 and received control delegation, themaster communication device 1 once receives the call originated from theoriginating telephone 100 by way of a host station 3 and transmits thefact of that originated call to the slave communication device 2A, andthe slave communication device 2A performs originating to theoriginating telephone 100 through the host station 3, thereby allowingbi-directional communication between the originating telephone 100 andthe specified slave communication device through the host station 3.

Here, the master communication device 1 has a unique ID (telephonenumber) set therefor for a telephone line for mobile communication(hereinafter referred to as “mobile communication lines”), and the ID(hereinafter referred to as “master ID”) is registered and managed bythe host station 3. On the other hand, each slave communication device 2does not have a unique ID for the mobile communication line but has aunique ID (pager ID) set therefor for receiving a pager signal, and thepager ID is registered and managed by the host station 3. (SchematicConfiguration of Master Communication Device)

The master communication device 1 has a portable telephone body 10provided with functions as a portable telephone, and a responder 4 fortransmitting and receiving various signals to and from the respectiveslave communication devices 2A to 2 n. The master communication device 1has a function of performing transmission and reception of radio signalsto and from the respective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n throughthe responder 4 and a function of performing transmission and receptionof radio signals to and from the host station 3 over the mobilecommunication line based on the master ID.

The portable telephone body 10 of the master communication device 1 hasthe master ID (telephone number) set therefor for using the mobilecommunication line. As shown in FIG. 1, an antenna 13 a of a wirelesscommunication means for performing wireless communication with the hoststation 3 is arranged on the top of a device body (housing) and on thefront of the device, arranged from the top are a sound output section 17formed of a speaker or the like, a display section 15 comprising aliquid crystal panel or the like, and operation input section 12comprising a number of key switches for entering telephone numbers orvarious commands, a sound input section 16 formed of a microphone or thelike. The other constituent parts of the master communication device 1are later described with reference to FIG. 2.

While the embodiment is configured such that the responder 4 isintegrally provided on the top of the portable telephone body 10 asshown in FIG. 1, the configuration is, of course, not limited to thisarrangement, and further, a configuration in which the responder 4 isremovably provided for the portable telephone body 10 may be used.

Schematic Configuration of Slave Communication Device

On the other hand, each of the slave communication devices 2A to 2 n hasa portable telephone body 20 and an interrogator 5 for performingtransmission and reception of various signals to and from the mastercommunication device 1. Each of the slave communication de vices 2A to 2n has a function of performing transmission and reception of radiosignals to and from the master communication device 1 through theinterrogator 5, a function of receiving a pager signal transmitted fromthe host station 3, and a function of performing transmission andreception of radio signals to and from the host station 3 over themobile communication line based on the master ID of the mastercommunication device 1 on condition that control delegation is receivedfrom the master communication device 1.

The portable telephone body 20 of each of the slave communicationdevices 2 is similar in appearance to the master communication device 1.As shown in FIG. 1, an antenna 23 a of a wireless communication meansfor performing wireless communication with the host station 3 isarranged on the top of a device body (housing), and on the front of thedevice, arranged from the top are a sound output section 27 formed of aspeaker or the like, a display section 25 comprising a liquid crystalpanel or the like, an operation input section 22 comprising a number ofkey switches for entering telephone numbers or various commands, a soundinput section 26 formed of a microphone or the like. The otherconstituent parts of the slave communication devices 2 are laterdescribed with reference to FIG. 2.

While the embodiment is configured such that the responder 5 isintegrally provided on the top of the portable telephone body 20 asshown in FIG. 1, the configuration is, of course, not limited to thisarrangement, and a configuration in which the responder 5 is removablyprovided for the portable telephone body 20 may be used, and further, aconfiguration in which the responder 5 is not provided and a slave ID ispreviously set may be used, as described later.

Outline of Host Station

Next, the outline of the host station 3 is described with reference toFIG. 3.

The host station 3 has a central control section 30 which includes acellular control station section 31 for performing various controls forthe mobile communication system such as switching of the mobilecommunication line and a radio paging control station section 32 forperforming various controls for a radio paging system such as radiopaging of a pager unit (beeper), and which is connected to a publicnetwork, and has a plurality of cellular base stations 33, 34, 35connected to the cellular control station section 31, and a radio pagingbase station 36 connected to the radio paging control station section32. It should be noted that, for the convenience of the description,FIG. 3 shows only three extracted cellular base stations and only oneextracted radio paging base station.

The central control station 30 of the host station 3 controls thecellular control station section 31 for the mobile communication systemand the radio paging control station section 32 for the radio pagingsystem to perform switching control of both lines of fixed communication(wired) over the public network and mobile communication (wireless).

Each of the cellular base stations 33 to 35 transmits a radio signal(radio wave) for performing communication over the mobile communicationtelephone line to within a predetermined area (cell) based on thecontrol of the cellular control station section 31. On the other hand,the radio paging base station 36 transmits a radio signal (radio wave)to be reached in a predetermined area such that a terminal apparatushaving a pager function can receive a pager signal based on the controlof the radio paging control station section 32. It should be noted thatthe area where the radio wave from the radio paging base station 36 canreach is wider than that of one cellular base station.

In the cellular control station section 31, telephone numbers of variousportable telephones including the master communication device i areregistered. In addition, the cellular control station section 31performs control of the respective telephone numbers during use of themobile communication line and management for accounting or the like.

The radio paging control station section 32 registers paging telephonenumbers (pager IDs) of respective pager units, and upon reception ofvarious signals including message information or the like from variousoriginating telephone apparatuses to a predetermined pager ID, performscontrol for transmitting a paging signal (pager signal) to a pager unitsuch as a beeper having that pager ID from the radio paging base station36 to transfer the various signals including message information or thelike to the pager unit.

Circuit Configuration of Master Communication Device

Next, the circuit configurations of the master communication device 1and the respective slave communication devices 2 are described withreference to a block diagram of FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the portabletelephone body 10 of the master communication device 1 comprises acontrol section 11 for controlling the overall master communicationdevice 1, the operation input section 12 described in FIG. 1, atransmission/reception section 13 as a wireless communication means forperforming communication with the host station 3, the display section15, the sound input section 16 and the sound output section 17 describedin FIG. 1, a vibrator 18 for vibrating the whole master communicationdevice 1, and a memory 19 for storing various information, laterdescribed.

The control section 11 of the portable telephone body 10 controls thetransmission/reception section 13, the display section 15, the soundoutput section 17, the vibrator 18, and the memory 19 based on variouscontrol programs and input operation through the operation input section12. In addition, the control section 11 of the portable telephone body10 is connected to the responder 4, later described, to control therespective sections based on signals input from the responder 4.

The transmission/reception section 13 of the portable telephone body 10performs transmission and reception of various radio signals to performmobile communication through the host station 3 using the mobilecommunication line based on the set master ID.

The portable telephone body 10 originates a weak radio wave for locationregistration (radio signal for location registration) from thetransmission/reception section 13 in a state in which the main powersupply is turned on. When the radio signal for location registration isreceived by any of the cellular base stations (33 to 35), the locationof the master communication device 1 is registered by the cellularcontrol station section 31.

In addition, in the portable telephone body 10, when a telephone numberof a telephone of a terminating party which is a subject ofcommunication is input on the basis of input operation through theoperation input section 12, that telephone number is displayed on thedisplay section 15 by the control of the control section 11 to transmita radio signal (connecting signal) for requesting a line connection withthe telephone of the terminating party through thetransmission/reception section 13 and the antenna 13 a.

It should be noted that the aforementioned host station 3 performsprocessing of receiving the connecting signal transmitted from themaster communication device 1 by any of the cellular base stations (33to 35) to connect with the telephone of the terminating party by thecellular control station section 31.

Then, when the line is connected with the telephone of the terminatingparty, in the portable telephone body 10, voice from the telephone ofthe terminating party is output as voice from the sound output section17 by the control of the control section 11, and voice in responsethereto uttered by a user on the originating (calling) side is convertedinto an electrical signal through the sound input section 16, subjectedto predetermined processing in the transmission/reception section 13,and transmitted as a radio signal for a telephone call to the telephoneof the terminating party through the antenna 13 aand the host station13.

On the other hand, in the portable telephone body 10, when a radiosignal (connecting signal) for connecting the line transmitted from atelephone of a party on the other end serving as an originating partythrough the host station 3 is received by the transmission/receptionsection 13 through the antenna 13 a, an incoming tone is output from thesound output section 17 by the control of the control section 11 or thevibrator 18 is vibrated depending on a setting state based on the inputoperation through the operation input section 12. When a user of themaster communication device 1 serving as a terminating party operates apredetermined key on the operation input section 12, processing ofconnecting the line with the originating side is performed to enter astate in which a telephone call can be made with the telephone of theparty on the other end similarly to the aforementioned case.

Besides this, the operation input section 12 of the portable telephonebody 10 is operated in performing various settings when communication isperformed with the interrogator 5 of the slave communication device 2through the responder 4.

The memory 19 of the master communication device 1 has a write disablestorage area (ROM) and a writable storage area (RAM), and in the presentembodiment, the RAM is a non-volatile area in which data in the RAM isnot lost even in a state in which the main power supply is turned off.

In the ROM of the memory 19, information o n the master ID (f orexample, a telephone number “090-1234-5678”) concerning the mobilecommunication line for that master communication device 1 is stored.Then, when the master communication device 1 establishes communicationover the mobile communication line, that master ID is transmitted to theside of the host station 3 from the transmission section 13 and verifiedwith the telephone number information registered in the cellular controlstation section 31 of the host station 3 to perform authentication ofthe master ID.

In addition, in the ROM of the memory 19, a control program forperforming transmission and reception of a predetermined signal inperforming communication with each slave communication device 2 throughthe responder 4 is stored.

On the other hand, in the RAM of the memory 19, an area for storingvarious information transmitted from each slave communication device 2in performing communication with each slave communication device 2, anarea for storing the telephone number of the originating telephone 100,later described, a work area of the control section 11 and the like arereserved.

The responder 4 of the master communication device 1 performstransmission and reception of data to and from the interrogator 5 of theslave communication device 2 and comprises a noncontact type RFID chip.In the master communication device 1, the control section 11 creates aslave ID based on the said control program at the time of communicationwith the slave communication device 2 and reads the master ID from thememory 19 to supply the slave ID and the master ID to the responder 4together with a control signal, so that the information on theserespective IDs is output from the responder 4 in the form of a radiosignal. It should be noted that a radio wave, an infrared ray or thelike can be used as the form of the radio signal

In addition, the responder 4 of the master communication device 1outputs a connecting signal for establishing connection with theinterrogator 5 of the slave communication device 2 based on the controlof the control section 11 prior to transmission of the slave ID andinformation on control contents, which processing is described later.

Circuit Configuration of Slave Communication Device

Next, the circuit configuration of the slave communication devices 2 isdescribed. As shown in FIG. 2, the portable telephone body 20 of theslave communication device 2 has a control section 21 for controllingthe overall this slave communication device 2, the operation inputsection 22 described in FIG. 1, a transmission/reception section 23 as awireless communication means for performing wireless communicationthrough the host station 3 using the telephone line for mobilecommunication, a pager signal reception section 24 for receiving a pagersignal from the host station 3, the display section 25, the sound inputsection 26 and the sound output section 27 described in FIG. 1, avibrator 28 for vibrating the whole slave communication device 2, and amemory 29 for storing various information, later described. In addition,the interrogator 5 of the slave communication device 2 is connected tothe control section 21 and performs communication for control delegationwith the responder 4 of the master communication device 1.

The control section 21 of the portable telephone body 20 controls thetransmission/reception section 23, the pager signal reception section24, the display section 25, the sound output section 27, the vibrator28, and the memory 29 based on various control programs and inputoperation through the operation input section 22. Also, the controlsection 21 is connected to the interrogator 5, later described, tocontrol the respective sections based on signals input from theinterrogator 5.

The transmission/reception section 23 of the portable telephone body 20performs transmission and reception of various radio signals includingthe aforementioned radio signal for location registration in order toperform mobile communication through the host station 3 using the mobilecommunication line based on the master ID by using the master ID of themaster communication device 1.

In the slave communication device 2, however, the control section 21performs control such that the transmission/reception section 23 isnormally not supplied with power even in a state in which the main powersupply is on, and the radio signal for location registration is notoriginated normally. Then, when the pager signal reception section 24receives a predetermined signal, as later described, the control section21 performs control for turning on the power of thetransmission/reception section 23.

The pager signal reception section 24 receives a pager signaltransmitted from the radio paging base station 36 of the host station 3.Here, for a reduction in power consumption, the control section 21performs control such that the power is intermittently turned on in thepager signal reception section 24 to perform intermittent reception ofthe pager signal.

For the pager function of the slave communication device 2, since thepager signal reception section 24 has no transmission function, a userof the slave communication device 2 may perform location registrationfor an area to which the user wishes to move by using a public telephoneor the like when the user moves across pager signal transmittable areasof the radio paging base station 36 similarly to a typical pager system.Specifically, when the user moves across areas, for example, the usermay call a registered representative number with a public telephone, notshown, and enter the paging telephone number (pager ID) of that slavecommunication device 2 and the number of an area to which the userwishes to move to cause the radio paging control station section 32 ofthe host station 3 to store information on the area to which the user isto move.

The memory 29 of the slave communication device 2 has a write disablestorage area (ROM) and a writable storage area (RAM), and the RAM is anon-volatile area in which data is not lost even in a state in which themain power supply is turned off, similarly to the memory 19 of themaster communication device 1.

In the ROM of the memory 29, a paging telephone number (pager ID)concerning the pager function of that slave communication device 2 isstored. In addition, in the ROM of the memory 29, a control program forperforming transmission and reception of a predetermined signal inperforming communication with the master communication device 1 throughthe interrogator 5 is stored.

On the other hand, in the RAM of the memory 29, an area for storingvarious information transmitted from the master communication device 1in performing communication with the master communication device 1, awork area of the control section 21 and the like are reserved.

The interrogator 5 of the slave communication device 2 comprises anoncontact type RFID chip communicable with the responder 4 of themaster communication device 1.

It should be noted that, while wireless communication is performedbetween the master communication device 1 and the slave communicationdevice 2 by using the noncontact type RFID chip respectively in thepresent embodiment, a configuration in which wire communication isperformed by connecting the master communication device 1 with the slavecommunication devices 2 through cables or a configuration in whichcommunication is performed by another wireless communication means suchas Bluetooth may be used.

Control Delegation from Master Communication Device to SlaveCommunication Device

Next, control delegation performed from the master communication device1 to each slave communication device 2 is described with reference to aflow chart of FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining processingperformed between the master communication device 1 and the plurality ofslave communication devices 2A, 2B, . . . 2 n.

In the present embodiment, first, the responder 4 of the mastercommunication device 1 is brought near to within a predetermineddistance from the respective interrogators 5 of the slave communicationdevices 2A to 2 n, and a user of the master communication device 1presses a predetermined key switch of the operation input section 12. Atthis point, a connecting signal is transmitted from the responder 4 inthe master communication device 1 and the slave communication devices 2Ato 2 n receive this connecting signal by the respective interrogators 5(step S1).

Next, at step S2, the respective control sections 21 of the slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n control the respective interrogators 5to transmit verification signals to the master communication device 1.These verification signals include slave terminal information unique tothose slave communication devices 2 and are different from one anotherfor the respective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n. Here, theslave terminal information unique to the slave communication device 2includes at least information on the pager ID since each of the slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n has a unique paging telephone number(pager ID) for the pager function in the present embodiment. Besides,the slave terminal information may include, for example, information onthe product numbers of the respective communication devices 2,information on users of the respective slave communication devices 2 orthe like.

Upon reception of the verification signals from the respective slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n at the responder 4, the control section11 of the master communication device 1 extracts and temporarily storesthe respective pager IDs in the memory 19 at step S3 and controls thedisplay section 15 to display a list of the respective slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n to perform display for prompting a userof the master communication device to select a slave communicationdevice which is a subject of control delegation through operation of theoperation input section 12. For the display of the list of therespective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n, the respective pagerIDs and other slave terminal information may be displayed. Then, thecontrol section 11 of the master communication device 1 moves to step S4to monitor whether or not the selection of the slave communicationdevice is made through the input operation of the operation inputsection 12.

When the selection of the slave communication device is made through theinput operation of the operation input section 12, the control section11 of the master communication device 1 creates (issues) slave IDscorresponding in number to the selected slave communication devices(step S5). In the present embodiment, these slave IDs are IDs whichallow the control station 11 of the master communication device 1 torecognize that they are issued by the master communication device 1 andwhich are different from one another to identify the respective ones ofthe plurality of the slave communication devices.

In this embodiment, as the slave IDs, IDs are issued by addingpredetermined symbols to the master ID (telephone number) of the mastercommunication device 1 to result in telephone numbers different from oneanother for the respective slave communication devices. Specifically,the slave IDs are created as “01” for the first slave communicationdevice 2A, “02” for the second slave communication device 2B, . . . ,and allocated to the respective slave communication devices.

Next, the control section 11 of the master communication device 1controls the responder 4 to individually transmit the created slave IDsand the master ID to the respective slave communication devices 2 (stepS6), and subsequently, stores the respective pager IDs and the issuedslave IDs of the respective slave communication devices 2 to whichcontrol has been delegated in correspondence with each other in the RAMof the memory 19 (step S7). It should be noted that the processing atstep S7 may be performed after the issue of the slave IDs and before thetransmission. In addition, while the slave IDs and the master ID aresimultaneously transmitted here, they may be transmitted separately.

Upon response of the signals including the slave IDs and the master IDfrom the master communication device 1 at the interrogators 5 in therespective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n, each control section11 extracts and stores the slave ID and the master ID in the RAM of thememory 29 (step S8). It should be noted that, in this case, the power ofeach transmission/reception section 23 of each of the slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n is kept off.

In the present embodiment, such control delegation performed from themaster communication device 1 to the plurality of the slavecommunication devices 2 eliminates the need for setting of uniquetelephone numbers for using the mobile communication line on the side ofthe respective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n to lift the burdenof paying the base rate for the use rights of new telephone numbers andto save telephone number resources for the mobile communication line.

In addition, in the present embodiment, since a small amount of data istransmitted and received between the responder 4 of the mastercommunication device 1 and the interrogators 5 of the slavecommunication devices 2, both of the responder 4 and the interrogators 5can be configured using simple interfaces.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, since the power of eachtransmission/reception section 23 of each of the slave communicationdevices 2A to 2 n is normally turned off to make the portable telephonefunctions in an unused state, the radio signal for location registrationis normally not originated from the transmission/reception sections 23in the respective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n, andinconveniences such as an increased burden of processing for locationregistration can be avoided on the side of the central control station30 of the host station 3 even when the respective slave communicationdevices 2A to 2 n move to different points distant from the mastercommunication device 1, respectively, after the control delegation.Thus, no inconvenience occurs even when users carrying the respectiveslave communication devices 2A to 2 n move to different points distantfrom the master communication device 1, respectively.

It should be noted that since the power of the pager signal receptionsections 24 is always turned on, the pager function is always turned onto be in a state in which a pager signal can be received by therespective pager signal reception sections 24 in the respective slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n.

Operation of Respective Slave Communication Devices after ControlDelegation

Next, the operation of the respective slave communication devices 2after such control delegation is made is described with reference to aflow chart of FIG. 5. It should be noted that while only the operationof the slave communication device 2A is described here, the operation ofthe other slave communication devices 2B to 2 n is similar thereto.

Since the pager function is always turned on as described above, theslave communication device 2A monitors by the control section 21 whetheror not the pager signal reception signal 24 receives a pager signal(step S21), and when the pager signal reception section receives a pagersignal, the control section 21 controls the sound output section 27 orthe vibrator 28 to issue a ringing tone or vibration for paging the user(step S22).

Subsequently, the control section 21 controls the respective sections toextract various information on an originating party such as a telephonenumber of the originating party and a message from the originating partyfrom the received pager signal (step S23), to store the variousinformation in the RAM of the memory 29 (step S24), and to display theinformation on the display section 25 (step S25).

In addition, the control section 21 determines whether or not aninstruction concerning control of the portable telephone function (anoriginating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number) is included in the received pager signal(step S26), and when not included, considers it as normal and simplepager originating to terminate the processing with the portabletelephone function maintained off and then returns to step S21, or whenincluded, turns on the power of the transmission and reception section23 to turn on the portable telephone function (step S27) to performoriginating using the mobile communication line for the mastercommunication device 1, thus entering a state in which the press of apredetermined button of the operation input section 22 is waited (stepS28).

With this, the transmission and reception section 23 originates a signalfor location registration based on the master ID, that signal forlocation registration is received by the cellular base stations (33 to35) in an area in which that slave communication device 2 is located,and the cellular control station section 31 performs processing oflocation registration. It should be noted that, at this point, thelocation registration in the cellular control station section 31 ischanged from the location of the master communication device 1 to thelocation of the slave communication device 2A in view of step S63, laterdescribed in FIG. 7.

Then, when the predetermined button of the operation input section 22 ispressed, the control section 21 of the slave communication device 2Areads the information on the originating telephone number and theinformation on the master ID (for example, “090-1234-5678”) from the RAMof the memory 29, and controls the transmission and reception section 23to transmit an originating signal including these respective information(step S29). With this, the originating signal is received by thecellular base stations (33 to 35) in the area where that slavecommunication device 2A is located, and the central control station 30of the host station 3 connects the originating telephone apparatus withthe slave communication device 2A over the mobile communication linebased on the master ID to enter a state where bi-directionalcommunication (telephone call) is possible.

Then, the control section 21 of the slave communication device 2monitors the state of the transmission/reception section 23 to waituntil that communication is completed (step S36), and when thecommunication is completed by the press of a telephone call completionbutton of the operation input section 22 or the like, shuts down thepower of the transmission/reception section 23 and controls thetransmission/reception section 23 to again turn off the portabletelephone function (step S31), and terminates a series of processing toreturn to step S21.

In this manner, in the present embodiment, since each of the slavecommunication devices 2 which received control delegation performswireless communication through the host station 3 using the master ID,various processing such as authentication of the slave IDs by the hoststation 3 or the like is not required. Also, whoever users of therespective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n are, the user of themaster communication device 1 is charged for bills for the telephonecharges or service charges.

In addition, in the present embodiment, in each of the slavecommunication devices 2 which received control delegation, when thepager signal reception means receives a pager signal, the controlsection 21 determines whether or not it includes the originatinginstruction that originating should be performed to the originatingtelephone number, and when not included, it is considered as a normalpager signal and the power of the transmission/reception section 23 ismaintained off, so that it also has a function as a pager-only unit, inwhich a telephone call may be made from a public telephone or the liketo the originating telephone number.

When Communication is Performed Between Originating Telephone and SlaveCommunication Device

Next, description is made with reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 forprocessing or the like on the side of an unspecified telephone apparatus(originating telephone 100) and the side of the master communicationdevice 1 when the slave communication device 2A, which received controldelegation from the master communication device 1 and has the slave IDset therefor in a state in which it is already distant from the mastercommunication device 1 and the other slave communication devices 2B to 2n, receives a call originated from the originating telephone to make atelephone call. Here, FIG. 6 is a flow diagram for explaining theoperation or the like performed by a user of the originating telephone,and FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the processing of the mastercommunication device 1 after the control delegation.

First, an originator performs input operation of an operation inputsection (not shown) of the originating telephone 100. Here, thetelephone number of the master communication device 1 is keyed toperform transmission and reception of a connecting signal forestablishing communication with the master communication device 1through the host station 3 (step S41). Then, when this connecting signalis transmitted and received, the telephone number information of theoriginating telephone 100 is received by the transmission/receptionsection 31 through the host station 3, and the control section 11 of themaster communication device 1 stores the originating telephone numberinformation in the RAM of the memory 19 (step S51). After thetransmission of the connecting signal, the originator hears a tone(ringing tone) from the handset of the originating telephone 100 to waitfor the master communication device 1 to enter a response state (stepS42).

When the transmission/reception section 13 receives the connectingsignal from the host station 3 based on the originating from theoriginating telephone 100, the control section 11 of the mastercommunication device 1 controls the sound output section 17 to generatea normal ringing tone (incoming tone) (step S52), and monitors theoperation input section 12 to wait for response operation of the user(step S53) and monitors whether or not the ringing tone exceeds apredetermined number (step S54), and when response operation isperformed within the predetermined number, response processing isperformed for connecting the line with the originating side as describedabove (step S55) to enter a state in which a telephone call with theoriginator of the originating telephone 100 is possible and theprocessing moves to step S57, later described. On the other had, if noresponse is made even when the ringing tone exceeds the predeterminednumber, automatic response is made to perform answering machineprocessing (step S56) and the processing moves to step S57.

In the answering machine processing, the correspondence relationshipbetween the users of the respective communication devices 2A to 2 n andthe slave IDs may be passed as a message to the originating telephone100. For example, such a message as “01 after # for originating to 00,02 after # for originating to 00, . . . ” may be passed.

When the master communication device 1 enters the responded state or theanswering machine state by automatic response, the originator operatesthe operation input section, not shown, of the originating telephone 100to transmit a signal for specifying any of the slave communicationdevices to the master communication device 1 from the originatingtelephone 100 through the host station 3 (step S43).

In this example, the user of the originating telephone 100 presses a “0”key and a “1” key for specifying a slave ID “01” given to the associatedslave communication device 2A by the master communication device 1 afterthe press of a “#” mark key of the operation input section as operationfor transmitting the signal for specifying a slave communication deviceto the master communication device 1.

The control section 11 of the master communication device 1 monitorswhether or not a signal indicating the “#” mark is received from theoriginating party during connection with the originating telephone 100after the response (step S57), and when the signal is received, monitorswhether or not a signal indicating a slave ID of any of the slavecommunication devices is received (step S58), and when the signal isreceived, verifies it with the slave IDs stored in the memory 19 tospecify the slave communication device 2 with which the originatingtelephone 100 demands to communicate (step S59), and further, associatesthe slave ID of the specified slave communication device (in this case,the slave communication device 2A) with the originating telephone numberstored in the memory 19 at step S51 (step S60), and performs processingof disconnecting the line with the originating telephone (step S61).

It should be noted that, for the answering machine processing of themaster communication device 1, for example, a voice message as “sincecalling will be made now, please hang up and wait for a while.” may bepassed, or the pager ID of the slave communication device 2A specifiedby the originating telephone may be notified to the user of theoriginating telephone before the disconnection of the line with theoriginating telephone.

Then, when the line with the originating telephone 100 is disconnected,the control section 11 of the master communication device 1 extracts thepager ID of the specified slave communication device 2A and controls thetransmission/reception section 13 to perform originating to that pagerID, and at this point, creates, as a pager signal, information on theoriginating telephone number and an originating instruction for making acall to the originating telephone number (for example, “#TEL to03-1234-5678” or the like), and performs processing of transmitting thatpager signal to the host station 3 from the transmission/receptionsection 13 (step S62). With this, the slave communication device 2Awhich received that pager signal by the pager signal reception section24 through the host station 3 performs the processing at step S21 andlater as described above in FIG. 5. The processing at step S29 enablesoriginating to the originating telephone 100 to perform communicationwith the originating telephone 100 through the host station 3.

The control section 11 of the master communication device 1 performscontrol to shut off the power of the transmission/reception section 13for a predetermined time period to temporarily turn off the portabletelephone function after the transmission of the pager signal (stepS63). With this, the location registration of the slave communicationdevice 2A and the originating to the originating terminal apparatus atstep S29 described above are smoothly performed to avoid theinconvenience of confused location registration processing on the sideof the central control station 30 of the host station 3.

It should be noted that, for the processing at step S42 in FIG. 6 in theoriginating telephone 100, automation is possible by storing in theoriginating telephone 100 a control program in which, in making a callfrom the originating telephone 100 to the master communication device 1,when the user of the originating telephone 100 enters the telephonenumber of the master communication device 1 and subsequently apredetermined key including the slave ID “01” for specifying the slavecommunication device, response of the master communication device 1 isautomatically detected, and a signal corresponding to the pressing ofthe “#” mark key, the “0” and “1” is automatically transmitted after theresponse of the master communication device 1, thereby reducing time andeffort of the user of the originating telephone 100.

In the aforementioned embodiment, while description has been made for acase in which so-called callback processing is performed after themaster communication device 1 is passed to perform communication betweenthe originating telephone 100 and the slave communication device 2, thepresent invention is not limited thereto. The originating telephone 100may directly transmit a signal that a call should be made to theoriginating telephone to the pager signal reception section 24 of theslave communication device 2 through the host station 3. With this, forexample, communication can be established between the slavecommunication device 2 and the originating telephone 100 through thehost station 3 even when the main power supply of the mastercommunication device 1 is off. It should be noted that, in this case,for the originating telephone 100, processing equivalent to theaforementioned processing at step S62 of the master communication device1 maybe performed to transmit a pager signal including an originatinginstruction that originating should be performed to the originatingtelephone number to the host station 3, and the processing for the slavecommunication device 2 need not be changed at all.

In addition, in the aforementioned embodiment, while each of the mastercommunication device and the slave communication devices is configuredto comprise the transmission/reception means (responder 4, interrogator5) for performing transmission/reception of various signals in controldelegation, the present invention is not limited thereto. Aconfiguration in which slave IDs recognizable by the mastercommunication device 1 are originally set for the respective slavecommunication devices 2, for example a configuration in which slave IDsand a master ID are written into the ROMs of the memories 29 by, forexample a ROM writer or the like, not shown, may be employed to be in astate in which the slave communication devices 2 receive, in a manner ofspeaking, semipermanent control delegation from the master communicationdevice 1, and in this case, the said transmission/reception means may beomitted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since each ofthe slave communication devices 2 which received control delegationperforms wireless communication through the host station 3 using themaster ID on condition that the predetermined pager signal is received,various processing such as authentication of the slave IDs by the hoststation 3 is not required, and the individual slave communicationdevices 2 can acquire information on the telephone number of theoriginating telephone apparatus to perform originating to theoriginating telephone apparatus to perform mutual communication throughthe host station 3 even when they are at positions distant from themaster communication device 1.

While in the aforementioned embodiment, a case in which the mastercommunication device 1 is applied to a portable telephone has beendescribed, the master communication device 1 is applicable to a personalcomputer and other various terminal apparatuses.

In addition, while in the aforementioned embodiment, a case in which theslave communication device 2 is applied to a portable telephone has beendescribed, the slave communication device 2 is applicable to a digitalcamera, a video camera, a so-called mobile personal computer, and othervarious portable type electronic apparatuses. Thus, even an electronicused relatively infrequently is used as the slave communication deviceto allow escape from the burden of the base rate resulting from newsubscription of a mobile communication telephone, and simultaneously, toreduce telephone number resources of mobile communication telephones onthe communications operator side.

INDUSTRIAL AVAILABILITY

Since the present invention is configured as above, it is possible toprovide a wireless communication device as a slave communication device,a master communication device, a master/slave communication device, anda wireless communication system which allow a slave communication deviceto perform communication with an originating telephone apparatus througha host station based on a call originated from that originatingtelephone apparatus even when there are a number of slave communicationdevices which received control delegation from a master communicationdevice to have slave IDs set therefor and that slave communicationdevice moves to a position away from the master communication device orthe other slave communication devices, presenting extreme industrialusefulness.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless communication device receiving controldelegation from a master communication device having a unique master IDset therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by a hoststation so as to perform communication by using the wireless telephoneline for said master communication device, said wireless communicationdevice comprising: storage means for storing said master ID and a slaveID that is recognizable by said master communication device; wirelesscommunication means for performing communication by using the wirelesstelephone line for said master communication device through said hoststation; pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal of aradio paging system; and control means for controlling said wirelesscommunication means based on a predetermined pager signal received bysaid pager signal reception means; wherein said control means normallykeeps the power of said wireless communication means turned off; andwherein, when said pager signal reception means receives a pager signal,said control means determines whether or not the pager signal includesan originating instruction specifying that originating should beperformed to an originating telephone number, and, when said controlmeans determines that the originating instruction is not included in thepager signal, said control means performs control to maintain that thepower of said wireless communication means remains off.
 2. The wirelesscommunication device according to claim 1, wherein said control meansperforms control to turn on the power of said wireless communicationmeans when said control means determines that the originatinginstruction specifying that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number is included in the pager signal.
 3. Thewireless communication device according to claim 2, wherein said controlmeans controls said wireless communication means to perform originatingto an originating telephone apparatus of the originating telephonenumber using said master ID after the power of said wirelesscommunication means is turned on.
 4. The wireless communication deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein when said pager signal reception meansreceives said pager signal including the originating telephone number ofthe originating telephone apparatus, said control means performs controlto notify a user that a telephone call should be made to the originatingtelephone apparatus of said originating telephone number.
 5. Thewireless communication device according to claim 1, further comprisingtransmission/reception means for receiving the slave ID created by saidmaster communication device in said control delegation and performingtransmission and reception of various signals to and from said mastercommunication device, and wherein, when said transmission/receptionmeans receives said slave ID, said control means controls said storagemeans to store said slave ID in said storage means.
 6. A wirelesscommunication device receiving control delegation from a mastercommunication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using awireless telephone line provided by a host station so as to performcommunication by using the wireless telephone line for said mastercommunication device, said wireless communications device comprising:storage means for storing said master ID and a slave ID that isrecognizable by said master communication device; wireless communicationmeans for performing communication by using the wireless telephone linefor said master communication device through said host station; pagersignal reception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio pagingsystem; control means for controlling said wireless communication meansbased on a predetermined pager signal received by said pager signalreception means; and transmission/reception means for receiving theslave ID created by said master communication device in said controldelegation and performing transmission and reception of various signalsto and from said master communication device; wherein, when saidtransmission/reception means receives said slave ID, said control meanscontrols said storage means to store said slave ID in said storagemeans; wherein said storage means has a pager ID stored therein for thepager signal received by said pager signal reception means; and whereinsaid control means controls said storage means and saidtransmission/reception means to read and transmit said pager ID to saidmaster communication device in said control delegation, respectively. 7.A master communication device having a unique master ID set therefor forusing a wireless telephone line provided by a host station, using atleast one slave communication device, and providing each of the at leastone slave communication device with a slave ID created on the basis ofsaid master ID so as to perform control delegation to each of the atleast one slave communication device, wherein: said master communicationdevice comprises first wireless communication means for performingwireless communication through said host station by transmitting saidmaster ID to said host station, and first control means for controllingsaid first wireless communication means; each of said at least one slavecommunication device comprises storage means for storing said master IDand a slave ID that is recognizable by said master communication device,second wireless communication means for performing communication byusing the wireless telephone line for said master communication devicethrough said host station, pager signal reception means for receiving apager signal of a radio paging system, and second control means forcontrolling said second wireless communication means based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionmeans; and when said first wireless communication means receives, duringcommunication with an originating telephone apparatus, a signalindicating an originating telephone number of the originating telephoneapparatus and a signal specifying any of the at least one slavecommunication device to which control has been delegated that hasoriginated from said originating telephone apparatus, said first controlmeans disconnects the communication with said originating telephoneapparatus and controls said first wireless communication means such thatsaid pager signal reception means of said any of said at least one slavecommunication device receives a pager signal including said originatingtelephone number and an originating instruction specifying thatoriginating should be performed to said originating telephone number. 8.The master communication device according to claim 7, wherein saidmaster communication device further comprises storage means for storinga pager ID of each of said at least one slave communication device towhich control has been delegated, and wherein said first control meansreads said pager ID from said storage means of said master communicationdevice and controls said first wireless communication means to performoriginating to the pager ID of said any of said at least one slavecommunication device such that said pager signal reception means of saidany of said at least one slave communication device receives the pagersignal including the originating telephone number and the originatinginstruction specifying that originating should be performed to saidoriginating telephone number.
 9. The master communication deviceaccording to claim 8, wherein said master communication device furthercomprises transmission/reception means for receiving the pager ID fromeach of the at least one slave communication device in said controldelegation and performing transmission and reception of various signalsto and from each of the at least one slave communication device, andwherein said first control means stores each of the pager IDs receivedfrom each of the at least one slave communication device in said storagemeans of said master communication device, creates slave IDscorresponding in number to the number of slave communication devices towhich control is to be delegated, and controls saidtransmission/reception means to transmit the slave IDs to each of the atleast one slave communication device to which control is to bedelegated, respectively.
 10. A master/slave communication devicecomprising a master communication device having a unique master ID settherefor for using a wireless communication line provided by a hoststation and one or more slave communication devices receiving controldelegation from said master communication device so as to performcommunication by using the wireless communication line for said mastercommunication device, wherein: said master communication devicecomprises wireless communication means for performing wirelesscommunication through said host station by transmitting said master IDto said host station, and control means for controlling said wirelesscommunication means; each of said slave communication devices comprisesstorage means for storing said master ID and a slave ID that isrecognizable by said master communication device, wireless communicationmeans for performing communication by using the wireless telephone linefor said master communication device through said host station, pagersignal reception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio pagingsystem, and control means for controlling said wireless communicationmeans based on a predetermined pager signal received by said pagersignal reception means; said control means of said slave communicationdevice normally keeps the power of said wireless communication meansturned off; and when said pager signal reception means receives a pagersignal, said control means of said slave communication device determineswhether or not the pager signal includes an originating instructionspecifying that originating should be performed to an originatingtelephone number, and when said control means of said slavecommunication device determines that the originating instruction is notincluded in the pager signal, said control means of said slavecommunication device performs control to maintain that the power of saidwireless communication means of said slave communication device remainsoff.
 11. The master/slave communication device according to claim 11,wherein said control means of said slave communication device performscontrol to turn on the power of said wireless communication means ofsaid slave communication device when said control means of said slavecommunication device determines that the originating instructionspecifying that originating should be performed to the originatingtelephone number is included in the pager signal.
 12. The master/slavecommunication device according to claim 11, wherein said control meansof said slave communication device controls said wireless communicationmeans of said slave communication device to perform originating to anoriginating telephone apparatus of the originating telephone numberusing said master ID after the power of said wireless communicationmeans of said slave communication device is turned on.
 13. Themaster/slave communication device according to claim 10, wherein, whensaid pager signal reception means receives the pager signal includingthe originating telephone number of said originating telephoneapparatus, said control means of said slave communication deviceperforms control to notify a user that a telephone call should be madeto the originating telephone apparatus of said originating telephonenumber.
 14. The master/slave communication device according to claim 10,wherein each of the slave communication devices comprisestransmission/reception means for receiving the slave ID created by saidmaster communication device in said control delegation and performingtransmission and reception of various signals to and from said mastercommunication device, and when said transmission/reception meansreceives said slave ID, said control means of each of the slavecommunication devices controls said storage means to store said slave IDin said storage means, respectively.
 15. A master/slave communicationdevice comprising a master communication device having a unique masterID set therefor for using a wireless communication line provided by ahost station and one or more slave communication devices receivingcontrol delegation from said master communication device so as toperform communication by using the wireless communication line for saidmaster communication device, wherein: said master communication devicecomprises wireless communication means for performing wirelesscommunication through said host station by transmitting said master IDto said host station, and control means for controlling said wirelesscommunication means; each of said slave communication devices comprisesstorage means for storing said master ID and a slave ID that isrecognizable by said master communication device, wireless communicationmeans for performing communication by using the wireless telephone linefor said master communication device through said host station, pagersignal reception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio pagingsystem, control means for controlling said wireless communication meansbased on a predetermined pager signal received by said pager signalreception means, and transmission/reception means for receiving theslave ID created by said master communication device in said controldelegation and performing transmission and reception of various signalsto and from said master communication device, wherein when saidtransmission/reception means receives said slave ID, said control meanscontrols said storage means to store said slave ID in said storagemeans; and said storage means of each of the slave communication deviceshas a pager ID stored therein for the pager signal received by saidpager signal reception means, respectively, and said control means ofeach of said slave communication devices controls said storage means andsaid transmission/reception means to read and transmit said pager ID tosaid master communication device in said control delegation,respectively.
 16. A master/slave communication device comprising amaster communication device having a unique master ID set therefor forusing a wireless communication line provided by a host station and oneor more slave communication devices receiving control delegation fromsaid master communication device so as to perform communication by usingthe wireless communication line for said master communication device,wherein: said master communication device comprises wirelesscommunication means for performing wireless communication through saidhost station by transmitting said master ID to said host station, andcontrol means for controlling said wireless communication means; each ofsaid slave communication devices comprises storage means for storingsaid master ID and a slave ID that is recognizable by said mastercommunication device, wireless communication means for performingcommunication by using the wireless telephone line for said mastercommunication device through said host station, pager signal receptionmeans for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system, and controlmeans for controlling said wireless communication means based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionmeans; and said master communication device further comprises storagemeans for storing a pager ID of each of the slave communication devicesto which control has been delegated, and said control means of saidmaster communication device reads said pager ID from said storage meansof said master communication device and controls said wirelesscommunication means of said master communication device to performoriginating to the respective pager ID of at least one of said slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated such that saidpager signal reception means of said at least one of said slavecommunication devices receives the pager signal including theoriginating telephone number and the originating instruction specifyingthat originating should be performed to said originating telephonenumber.
 17. The master/slave communication device according to claim 16,wherein said master communication device further comprisestransmission/reception means for receiving the pager ID from each of theslave communication devices in said control delegation and performingtransmission and reception of various signals to and from each of theslave communication devices, and said control means of said mastercommunication device stores each pager ID received from each of theslave communication devices in said storage means of said mastercommunication device, creates slave IDs corresponding in number to thenumber of slave communication devices to which control is to bedelegated, and controls said transmission/reception means to transmitthe slave IDs to the slave communication devices to which control is tobe delegated, respectively.
 18. The master/slave communication deviceaccording to claim 10, wherein, when said wireless communication meansof said master communication device receives, during communication withan originating telephone apparatus, a signal indicating an originatingtelephone number of the originating telephone apparatus and a signalspecifying any of the slave communication devices to which control hasbeen delegated that has originated from said originating telephoneapparatus, said control means of said master communication devicedisconnects the communication with said originating telephone apparatusand controls said wireless communication means of said mastercommunication device such that said pager signal reception means of saidany of the slave communication devices receives a pager signal includingan originating instruction specifying that originating should beperformed to said originating telephone number.
 19. The master/slavecommunication device according to claim 10, wherein said pager signalreception means of said any of the slave communication devices receivesa pager signal including the originating telephone number of theoriginating telephone apparatus and an originating instructionspecifying that originating should be performed to said originatingtelephone number which has originated from the originating telephoneapparatus.
 20. A wireless communication system comprising: a mastercommunication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using awireless telephone line; one or more slave communication devicesreceiving control delegation from said master communication device so asto perform communication by using the wireless telephone line for saidmaster communication device; and a host station for performing controlof communication using said wireless telephone line and control of thetransmission of a pager signal of a radio paging system; wherein saidmaster communication device comprises wireless communication means forperforming wireless communication through said host station bytransmitting said master ID to said host station, and control means forcontrolling said wireless communication means, and each of said slavecommunication devices comprises storage means for storing said master IDand a slave ID recognizable by said master communication device,wireless communication means for performing communication by using thewireless telephone line for said master communication device throughsaid host station, pager signal reception means for receiving a pagersignal of the radio paging system, and control means for controllingsaid wireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signalreceived by said pager signal reception means.
 21. The wirelesscommunication system according to claim 20, wherein said host stationhas a plurality of radio signal transmission/reception means forperforming transmission/reception of a radio signal by using saidwireless telephone line and receiving a radio signal which originatedfrom said wireless communication means of said master communicationdevice or said wireless communication means of each of said slavecommunication devices, respectively, so as to perform locationregistration.
 22. A wireless communication device operable to receivecontrol delegation from a master communication device having a uniquemaster ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by ahost station so as to perform communication by using the wirelesstelephone line for said master communication device, said wirelesscommunication device comprising: a storage section operable to store themaster ID and a slave ID that is recognizable by said mastercommunication device; a transmission/reception section operable toperform communication by using the wireless telephone line for saidmaster communication device through said host station; a pager signalreception section operable to receive a pager signal of a radio pagingsystem; and a control section operable to control saidtransmission/reception section based on a predetermined pager signalreceived by said pager signal reception section; wherein said controlsection is operable to normally keep the power of saidtransmission/reception section turned off; and wherein, when said pagersignal reception section receives a pager signal, said control sectionis operable to determine whether or not the pager signal includes anoriginating instruction specifying that originating should be performedto an originating telephone number, and, when said control sectiondetermines that the originating instruction is not included in the pagersignal, said control section is operable to maintain that the power ofsaid transmission/reception section remains off.
 23. The wirelesscommunication device according to claim 22, wherein said control sectionis operable to perform control to turn on the power of saidtransmission/reception section when said control section determines thatthe originating instruction specifying that originating should beperformed to the originating telephone number is included in the pagersignal.
 24. The wireless communication device according to claim 23,wherein said control section is operable to control saidtransmission/reception section to perform originating to an originatingtelephone apparatus of the originating telephone number using saidmaster ID after the power of said transmission/reception section isturned on.
 25. The wireless communication device according to claim 22,wherein, when said pager signal reception section receives said pagersignal including the originating telephone number of the originatingtelephone apparatus, said control section is operable to perform controlto notify a user that a telephone call should be made to the originatingtelephone apparatus of said originating telephone number.
 26. Thewireless communication device according to claim 22, further comprisingan interrogator operable to receive the slave ID created by said mastercommunication device in said control delegation and to performtransmission and reception of various signals to and from said mastercommunication device, and wherein, when said interrogator receives saidslave ID, said control section is operable to control said storagesection to store said slave ID in said storage section.
 27. A wirelesscommunication device receiving control delegation from a mastercommunication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using awireless telephone line provided by a host station so as to performcommunication by using the wireless telephone line for said mastercommunication device, said wireless communications device comprising: astorage section operable to store said master ID and a slave ID that isrecognizable by said master communication device; atransmission/reception section operable to perform communication byusing the wireless telephone line for said master communication devicethrough said host station; a pager signal reception section operable toreceive a pager signal of a radio paging system; a control sectionoperable to control said transmission/reception section based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionsection; and an interrogator operable to receive the slave ID created bysaid master communication device in said control delegation and toperform transmission and reception of various signals to and from saidmaster communication device; wherein, when said interrogator receivessaid slave ID, said control section is operable to control said storagesection to store said slave ID in said storage section; wherein saidstorage section has a pager ID stored therein for the pager signalreceived by said pager signal reception section; and wherein saidcontrol section is operable to control said storage section and saidinterrogator to read and transmit said pager ID to said mastercommunication device in said control delegation, respectively.
 28. Amaster communication device having a unique master ID set therefor forusing a wireless telephone line provided by a host station, using atleast one slave communication device, and providing each of the at leastone slave communication device with a slave ID created on the basis ofsaid master ID so as to perform control delegation to each of the atleast one slave communication device, wherein: said master communicationdevice comprises a first transmission/reception section operable toperform wireless communication through said host station by transmittingsaid master ID to said host station, and a first control sectionoperable to control said first transmission/reception section; each ofsaid at least one slave communication device comprises a storage sectionoperable to store said master ID and a slave ID that is recognizable bysaid master communication device, a second transmission/receptionsection operable to perform communication by using the wirelesstelephone line for said master communication device through said hoststation, a pager signal reception section operable to receive a pagersignal of a radio paging system, and a second control section operableto control said second transmission/reception section based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionsection; and when said first transmission/reception section receives,during communication with an originating telephone apparatus, a signalindicating an originating telephone number of the originating telephoneapparatus and a signal specifying any of the at least one slavecommunication device to which control has been delegated that hasoriginated from said originating telephone apparatus, said first controlsection is operable to disconnect the communication with saidoriginating telephone apparatus and to control said firsttransmission/reception section such that said pager signal receptionsection of said any of said at least one slave communication devicereceives a pager signal including said originating telephone number andan originating instruction specifying that originating should beperformed to said originating telephone number.
 29. The mastercommunication device according to claim 28, wherein said mastercommunication device further comprises a storage section operable tostore a pager ID of each of said at least one slave communication deviceto which control has been delegated, and wherein said first controlsection is operable to read said pager ID from said storage section ofsaid master communication device and to control said firsttransmission/reception section to perform originating to the pager ID ofsaid any of said at least one slave communication device such that saidpager signal reception section of said any of said at least one slavecommunication device receives the pager signal including the originatingtelephone number and the originating instruction specifying thatoriginating should be performed to said originating telephone number.30. The master communication device according to claim 29, wherein saidmaster communication device further comprises a responder operable toreceive the pager ID from each of the at least one slave communicationdevice in said control delegation and to perform transmission andreception of various signals to and from each, of the at least one slavecommunication device, and wherein said first control section is operableto store each of the pager IDs received from each of the at least oneslave communication device in said storage section of said mastercommunication device, to create slave IDs corresponding in number to thenumber of slave communication devices to which control is to bedelegated, and to control said responder to transmit the slave IDs toeach of the at least one slave communication device to which control isto be delegated, respectively.
 31. A master/slave communication devicecomprising a master communication device having a unique master ID settherefor for using a wireless communication line provided by a hoststation and one or more slave communication devices receiving controldelegation from said master communication device so as to performcommunication by using the wireless communication line for said mastercommunication device, wherein: said master communication devicecomprises a transmission/reception section operable to perform wirelesscommunication through said host station by transmitting said master IDto said host station, and a control section operable to control saidtransmission/reception section; each of said slave communication devicescomprises a storage section operable to store said master ID and a slaveID that is recognizable by said master communication device, atransmission/reception section operable to perform communication byusing the wireless telephone line for said master communication devicethrough said host station, a pager signal reception section operable toreceive a pager signal of a radio paging system, and a control sectionoperable to control said transmission/reception section based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionsection; said control section of said slave communication devicenormally keeps the power of said transmission/reception section turnedoff; and when said pager signal reception section receives a pagersignal, said control section of said slave communication device isoperable to determine whether or not the pager signal includes anoriginating instruction specifying that originating should be performedto an originating telephone number, and when said control section ofsaid slave communication device determines that the originatinginstruction is not included in the pager signal, said control section ofsaid slave communication device is operable to perform control tomaintain that the power of said transmission/reception section of saidslave communication device remains off.
 32. The master/slavecommunication device according to claim 31, wherein said control sectionof said slave communication device is operable to perform control toturn on the power of said transmission/reception section of said slavecommunication device when said control section of said slavecommunication device determines that the originating instructionspecifying that originating should be performed to the originatingtelephone number is included in the pager signal.
 33. The master/slavecommunication device according to claim 32, wherein said control sectionof said slave communication device is operable to control saidtransmission/reception section of said slave communication device toperform originating to an originating telephone apparatus of theoriginating telephone number using said master ID after the power ofsaid transmission/reception section of said slave communication deviceis turned on.
 34. The master/slave communication device according toclaim 31, wherein, when said pager signal reception section receives thepager signal including the originating telephone number of saidoriginating telephone apparatus, said control section of said slavecommunication device is operable to perform control to notify a userthat a telephone call should be made to the originating telephoneapparatus of said originating telephone number.
 35. The master/slavecommunication device according to claim 31, wherein each of the slavecommunication devices comprises an interrogator operable to receive theslave ID created by said master communication device in said controldelegation and to perform transmission and reception of various signalsto and from said master communication device, and, when saidinterrogator receives said slave ID, said control section of each of theslave communication devices is operable to control said storage sectionto store said slave ID in said storage section, respectively.
 36. Themaster/slave communication device according to claim 31, wherein, whensaid transmission/reception section of said master communication devicereceives, during communication with an originating telephone apparatus,a signal indicating an originating telephone number of the originatingtelephone apparatus and a signal specifying any of the slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated that hasoriginated from said originating telephone apparatus, said controlsection of said master communication device is operable to disconnectthe communication with said originating telephone apparatus and tocontrol said transmission/reception section of said master communicationdevice such that said pager signal reception section of said any of theslave communication devices receives a pager signal including anoriginating instruction specifying that originating should be performedto said originating telephone number.
 37. The master/slave communicationdevice according to claim 31, wherein said pager signal receptionsection of said any of the slave communication devices receives a pagersignal including the originating telephone number of the originatingtelephone apparatus and an originating instruction specifying thatoriginating should be performed to said originating telephone numberwhich has originated from the originating telephone apparatus.
 38. Amaster/slave communication device comprising a master communicationdevice having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wirelesscommunication line provided by a host station and one or more slavecommunication devices receiving control delegation from said mastercommunication device so as to perform communication by using thewireless communication line for said master communication device,wherein: said master communication device comprises atransmission/reception section operable to perform wirelesscommunication through said host station by transmitting said master IDto said host station, and a control section operable to control saidtransmission/reception section; each of said slave communication devicescomprises a storage section operable to store said master ID and a slaveID that is recognizable by said master communication device, atransmission/reception section operable to perform communication byusing the wireless telephone line for said master communication devicethrough said host station, a pager signal reception section operable toreceive a pager signal of a radio paging system, a control sectionoperable to control said transmission/reception section based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionsection, and an interrogator operable to receive the slave ID created bysaid master communication device in said control delegation and toperform transmission and reception of various signals to and from saidmaster communication device, wherein when said interrogator receivessaid slave ID, said control section is operable to control said storagesection to store said slave ID in said storage section; and said storagesection of each of the slave communication devices has a pager ID storedtherein for the pager signal received by said pager signal receptionsection, respectively, and said control section of each of said slavecommunication devices is operable to control said storage section andsaid interrogator to read and transmit said pager ID to said mastercommunication device in said control delegation, respectively.
 39. Amaster/slave communication device comprising a master communicationdevice having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wirelesscommunication line provided by a host station and one or more slavecommunication devices receiving control delegation from said mastercommunication device so as to perform communication by using thewireless communication line for said master communication device,wherein: said master communication device comprises atransmission/reception section operable to perform wirelesscommunication through said host station by transmitting said master IDto said host station, and a control section operable to control saidtransmission/reception section; each of said slave communication devicescomprises a storage section operable to store said master ID and a slaveID that is recognizable by said master communication device, atransmission/reception section operable to perform communication byusing the wireless telephone line for said master communication devicethrough said host station, a pager signal reception section operable toreceive a pager signal of a radio paging system, and a control sectionoperable to control said transmission/reception section based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionsection; and said master communication device further comprises astorage section operable to store a pager ID of each of the slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated, and saidcontrol section of said master communication device is operable to readsaid pager ID from said storage section of said master communicationdevice and to control said transmission/reception section of said mastercommunication device to perform originating to the respective pager IDof at least one of said slave communication devices to which control hasbeen delegated such that said pager signal reception section of said atleast one of said slave communication devices receives the pager signalincluding the originating telephone number and the originatinginstruction specifying that originating should be performed to saidoriginating telephone number.
 40. The master/slave communication deviceaccording to claim 39, wherein said master communication device furthercomprises a responder operable to receive the pager ID from each of theslave communication devices in said control delegation and to performtransmission and reception of various signals to and from each of theslave communication devices, and said control section of said mastercommunication device is operable to store each pager ID received fromeach of the slave communication devices in said storage section of saidmaster communication device, to create slave IDs corresponding in numberto the number of slave communication devices to which control is to bedelegated, and to control said responder to transmit the slave IDs tothe slave communication devices to which control is to be delegated,respectively.
 41. A wireless communication system comprising: a mastercommunication device having a unique master ID set therefor for using awireless telephone line; one or more slave communication devicesoperable to each receive control delegation from said mastercommunication device so as to perform communication by using thewireless telephone line for said master communication device; and a hoststation operable to perform control of communication using said wirelesstelephone line and to perform control of the transmission of a pagersignal of a radio paging system; wherein said master communicationdevice comprises a transmission/reception section operable to performwireless communication through said host station by transmitting saidmaster ID to said host station, and a control section operable tocontrol said transmission/reception section, and each of said slavecommunication devices comprises a storage section operable to store saidmaster ID and a slave ID that is recognizable by said mastercommunication device, a transmission/reception section operable toperform communication by using the wireless telephone line for saidmaster communication device through said host station, a pager signalreception section operable to receive a pager signal of the radio pagingsystem, and a control section operable to control saidtransmission/reception section based on a predetermined pager signalreceived by said pager signal reception section.
 42. The wirelesscommunication system according to claim 41, wherein said host stationhas a plurality of base stations operable to performtransmission/reception of a radio signal by using said wirelesstelephone line and to receive a radio signal which originated from saidtransmission/reception section of said master communication device orsaid transmission/reception section of each of said slave communicationdevices, respectively, so as to perform location registration.